PENTECOST 11C
August 12, 2007
SCRIPTURES
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 (23)
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
-Our lectionary selection of verses jumps to Abraham's example. It cites Abraham's willingness to set out for a land which God promised him, even though he had no idea what it was (11:8). This was an act of courage and risk. The author gives the biblical story a twist by indicating that the promised land was not really Canaan at all, but a heavenly city (11:10).
-Wait without idols. Keep the faith
-What Abraham really yearned for (and Moses and all the others as well!) was something they could not articulate for themselves. It was the God given yearning to want to be in the place where God is, in the world of God's heavenly presence.
-Sarah and Rachel and Leah and Rebekah and Miriam were all part of these stories of faith too - don't forget them!
-faith may be as small as a mustard seed
- The church to which Hebrews was written was a church that had lost its zeal. The writer wanted those who read this letter to hear once again the stories of faith. to be renewed in their own faith.
FAITH (see more quotes below)
-Questions: Define faith. Is it quantitative (of degrees)? Is it qualitative? Is it a spiritual gift from God? Is it a natural human characteristic?
-Faith is simply a willing but struggling trust in the revealed intentions of God.
-Faith that cannot help us live will not help us die
-Mysterium tremendum, Rudolf Ott
-Every religion that does not affirm that God is hidden is not true Pascal.
-We do not receive more faith than we need. .
-Faith is a category of relationship. Douglas Hall
-The heart of faith is relationship. (with God)
- To claim one has faith is to claim one has a relationship with God.
-Faith is the substance of things hoped for, not seen. In other words, we live by the spirit and there are spiritual gifts that are given to aid us in this life. deJong
-Faith is not belief
-Faith sees best in the dark. Kierkegaard
-Faith not from miracles; miracles from faith.
-Don't close your mind to safe guard your faith.
Luke 12:32-40. A call to action and readiness. Jesus calls disciples to priorities and action attuned to the coming of the Son of Man at an "unexpected hour." Verses 32-34 deal with possessions; verses 35-40 deal with being prepared for the Lord's coming.
TREASURES
-The whole idea of where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, is the rearranging of priorities
-But this passage leaves little out. Jesus makes very clear that he wants our treasure to be in heaven. Where our treasure is, there will our heart be.
-The heart follows the treasure and not the other way around. Jesus knows that our hearts are quite often not where our stated priorities are -- the heart does not follow the head. Instead, our hearts are where our money is. Our hearts follow our treasure. Anders
-Christians who know where their treasure is, who are willing to work, and who are not complacent in their servant hood.
-Our hearts desires will announce to which kingdom we belong
- "Do not be afraid." during violent storm when Jesus walked on water and again in Upper room.
-We are always to be ready for Christ’s second coming, his third coming, his persistent coming, his relentless coming. The miracles of God’s presence is forever coming to us, and we need to be alert, sharp, ready for Christ’s in-breaking into our lives.
-Paul Tillich reminds us that faith is "That about which we are ultimately concerned. "or putting our hearts where our treasure is.
-Looks like Chopin was buried where he died, in Paris. As requested ,his heart was returned to Warsaw where it was placed in the Holy Cross Church
ILLUSTRATIONS
-True story of woman who had a tall antique desk with shelves that held her RS Prussia china collection. It was beautiful to look at and quite valuable. But her house was close to the railroad tracks and the floor would vibrate when the trains rolled by. She didn't know it but the vibration from the trains over the years was loosening the top shelf of that desk. One day her son came into the house to find broken china pieces all over the dining room floor. She was sweeping them up with a broom and tears were running down her cheeks. "Worldly goods. That's all they are is worldly goods." As spiritual as this woman was, she also sometimes had to struggle to not let the beautiful things of this world own her heart
-Sophia Loren cried at the theft of a valuable necklace, her husband Carlo Ponte told her, “Don’t cry over something that can’t cry over you.” She recognized the wisdom of what he said and quit crying. Sue in Cuba, KS
-Bungee jumping is not a difficult sport. All one has to do is take the first
step, and the rest
comes easy. But that one step is a doozy.
QUOTES
-Without seeing you, we love you; without touching you, we embrace; without knowing you, we follow; without seeing you we believe. Song called With out Seeing You by David Hass
-Believe and I will show you, not I will show you and then you will believe. Paradox,
-If they don't deepen, faith and relationships both will die.
-Sometimes, faith means taking someone else's word for it.
-Better to ask “Release my faith” rather than “Give me faith”
-The only way one learns to trust is to trust.. John Powell
-Faith is not assent to doctrines about God. Douglas John Hal
-Faith that cannot help us live will not help us die
--Religion is about ritual, Faith is about relationships. I do not believe in people telling others of their faith, especially with a view to conversion. Faith does not admit of telling. But when it is lived it becomes self-propagating. Gandhi
-Godly power depends on INSIDE things, (love, faith, truth, etc.)
-We allow God to control our future but not our present
-Is not a possession...you can never say you have faith.
-The greatest risk is the risk of riskless living. Stephen R. Covey
-Too often we have faith in our answers to mystery rather than faith in God
HUMOR
-As Motel Six repeatedly says, "We'll leave the light on for you".
-Then there was the bird who had so little faith he wore a parachute.
-If you're hankering for God, He's already found you for it is God who creates the hankering Gerald Mann.
- We are made to run well on the commandments. You could put channel #5 in your car but it wouldn't run well on "smell #5". F.Sheen We are made to run well on faith.
- Faith is located under the left nipple. Martin Luther
-What is wrong with the world today? The best response of all was also the briefest. It read, Dear Sir, I am.
-Modern believers tent to trust in therapy more than in mystery Kathleen Norris
-Faith is believing what you know ain't so. Mark Twain
- Some one asked Abraham, "Where you
goin", "I dunno;" "What you goin to do there?" , "I dunno;"
"Why you goin?" "I dunno." (Abraham's faith)
CHILDREN
PRAYER PHRASES
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God give us a pure heart that we may see thee, a humble heart..hear thee, a heart of love, serve thee, a heart of faith that ee may live thee. Dag Hammarskjold.